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Dear CMO: If a sign of a sharp intellect is the ability to extract abstract concepts from one situation and apply them successfully to another, then we should practice this art of learning every chance we get. In theory, it should make us smarter people. In practice, it will certainly make us more effective as […]

Dear CMO: In the spirit of the blurry Starbucks photo the other day, behold the latest agri-business breakthrough product: the Easy Open Coconut(tm). This is no mere coconut, the commodity available on South Pacific desert islands from Hollywood to Bali Hai — oh, no — this one promises the elimination of the hassle, danger, and […]

Dear CMO: Seth Godin’s Sunday post discusses (non) branding in an unbranded world, which he illustrates with a vignette from the mattress business. His point is that while many marketers are excited about entering an unbranded marketplace and attempting to create one, usually by outspending the field, they rarely succeed because their product — like […]

Dear CMO: You’re bored of your brand name, aren’t you? And if you’re bored, surely everyone else in your known world is, too, right? What we need is something fresh… something hip… something different than all that brand equity that has been built up for all those years by those other brand managers that came […]

Dear CMO: Karen Hughes is stepping down at the end of the year. Her role in the Bush administration has been Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, responsible for burnishing the image of the United States in countries abroad with a communications budget reported to be $900 million or so. I […]